How do I get in contact with an alien?

Answer:

Theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking warned that humans should not try to contact alien life forms. He warned that aliens might pillage Earth for resources. "If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America!

Semantic Tags:

Stephen Hawking

Stephen William HawkingCH CBE FRS FRSA (i/ˈstiːvənˈhɔːkɪŋ/STEE-vənHAW-king; born 8 January 1942) is an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author and Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology within the University of Cambridge. Among his significant scientific works have been a collaboration with Roger Penrose on gravitational singularities theorems in the framework of general relativity, and the theoretical prediction that black holes emit radiation, often called Hawking radiation. Hawking was the first to set forth a cosmology explained by a union of the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. He is a vocal supporter of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics.

He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a lifetime member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States. Hawking was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge between 1979 and 2009.

Extraterrestrial life

Extraterrestrial life (from the Latin words: extra ["beyond", or "not of"] and terrestris ["of or belonging to Earth"]) is defined as life that does not originate from Earth. It is often also referred to as alien life, or simply aliens (or space aliens, to differentiate from other definitions of alien or aliens). These hypothetical forms of life range from simple bacteria-like organisms to beings far more complex than humans. The possibility that viruses might also exist extraterrestrially has been proposed.

The development and testing of hypotheses on extraterrestrial life is known as exobiology or astrobiology; the term astrobiology, however, includes the study of life on Earth viewed in its astronomical context. Scientists at the National Institutes of Health reported studies that life in the universe may have begun "9.7±2.5 billion years ago", billions of years before the Earth was formed, based on extrapolating the "genetic complexity of organisms" [from "major phylogenetic lineages"] to earlier times. Many scientists consider extraterrestrial life to be plausible, but there is no direct evidence of its existence. Since the mid-20th century, there has been an ongoing search for signs of extraterrestrial life, from radios used to detect possible extraterrestrial signals, to telescopes used to search for potentially habitable extrasolar planets. It has also played a major role in works of science fiction.

Theoretical physicist

Theoretical physics is a branch of physics which employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experimental tools to probe these phenomena.

The advancement of science depends in general on the interplay between experimental studies and theory. In some cases, theoretical physics adheres to standards of mathematical rigor while giving little weight to experiments and observations. For example, while developing special relativity, Albert Einstein was concerned with the Lorentz transformation which left Maxwell's equations invariant, but was apparently uninterested in the Michelson–Morley experiment on Earth's drift through a luminiferous ether.]citation needed[ On the other hand, Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize for explaining the photoelectric effect, previously an experimental result lacking a theoretical formulation.

News:

Every scientific breakthrough has taken time to get going. Knowledge and technology needs ... to compare ourselves to other planets — which we can't do until we make contact. The search for alien life is still in its infancy here. Let's say the Earth ...

The movie Earth to Echo, which hits theaters this week ... which looks for signs of extraterrestrial life. I wanted to get a feel for how accurate this was. If an alien happened to crash land on Earth, might they be able to tap into our cell signals?

Do you ever get anger from religious figures ... This was a big part of his life—from childhood to the years leading up to The Command, which was the first alien contact he had. Before this, he had become celibate and spent eight hours doing yoga ...

Cosmic Log: Do you still feel that 2025 is a good time frame for alien contact? And maybe more importantly ... In some sense, it'll come as a complete surprise if we get a signal. We know that from false alarms. They never occur when you expect them ...

What if aliens were to make contact—do we have an E.T. contingency plan? The protocol, adopted in 1989, is that if someone detects a radio signal seemingly indicating that we're not alone, he should get in touch ... we detect an alien spaceship or ...